KARACHI - The Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) of the Sindh police on Wednesday booked seven, including four cops, to investigate the mysterious demolition of a school in Soldier Bazaar, also declared a national heritage site. Suspended Soldier Bazaar SHO Irshad Soomro, Mukhtiarkar Ahmed Memon, Tapedar Ghulam Fareed, ASI Hakim and three police constables were detained while three others, nominated in the FIR, including Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Inspector Adnan still, are still at large. SHO Irshad Soomro was suspended by police high-ups for allegedly providing support to the land mafia that brought the national heritage school to the ground.

They are in CTD’s custody and their statements are being recorded to probe the case.

A source in police said that land mafia, police and revenue officials were behind the incident.

“Nothing can be said exactly until our inquiry is complete as some of the documents we have received and some of the relevant persons, including an eighty-year-old Christian lady, plot’s owner, and currently living in the United States, have been questioned but there are lots of things still to be done and some more documents and statements are to be recorded,” he added.

A police investigator said that real owner of the plot had already filed a petition in the Sindh High Court to denationalize it, adding that it seemed that some officials of the government had declared it a national heritage site following a dispute with the owner.

“The owner gave the power of attorney to a member of her family, Sajjad Bashir. Bashir sold the plot to Adnan and two others in 2016,” the officer explained.

“Adnan and others’ fault was that before demolishing the school, they did not approach the court and the government,” he added.

Police recovers four foreign nationals

Meanwhile police on Wednesday claimed to have gunned down two street criminals here in the remits of Mominabad police station.

A police spokesman said that two gunmen ridding a motorbike were passing by Aqsa Mosque in Orangi Town where police on routine patrolling signaled them to stop for routine checking.

“The gunmen tried to flee and resorted to firing, which resulted in an encounter,” he said, and added, “During the exchange of fire both of them sustained wounds and were taken to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital where doctors pronounced them dead.”

Police said it had recovered weapons, snatched mobile phones and a motorbike from their possession.

The bodies of both of them were shifted to a morgue for identification after autopsy. 

On the other hand, police has also claimed to have recovered four foreigners, who had been abducted from different parts of the country.

It also said it had busted a gang of kidnappers by arresting its five members.

This was disclosed during a press conference addressed by District East police chief DIG Arif Hanif.

Hanif said that the gang was busted during a raid conducted in Gulistan-e-Jauhar, adding five members belonged to an international gang of kidnappers.

Revealing identities of those recovered, the officer said that three were Nigerians and one was an Iranian national. “The Nigerians were kidnapped from Karachi while an Iranian national was kidnapped from Gwadar,” he elaborated.

The DIG said that the kidnappers belonged to Balochistan. “They used to trap the abductees through internet,” the officer revealed.

“The network of kidnappers even spreads to other countries.”

Cases have been registered and further investigation is underway.